How much is legislator worth? Wentworth suit provides data

Rick Casey :
September 29, 2002

Bo Pilgrim, the chicken king, provided some data in 1989 when he walked onto the Texas Senate floor and handed out $10,000 checks to senators while legislation of interest to him was under consideration.

Now comes a case at the Bexar County Courthouse offering more recent data.

State Sen. Jeff Wentworth won a summary judgment Monday for $250,000 plus nearly $80,000 in interest and about $7,000 in legal fees from a longtime real estate dealmaker named Joe Mangione.

What makes the case of scientific interest to economists is this: In a 1995 letter that is part of the file, Wentworth details to Mangione the work he did in the early to mid 1990s to earn this sum.

Wentworth flew to Edmonton, Canada, twice with Mangione to meet with the Ghermezian family, who had developed a huge, world-famous mall in that city. They had expressed an interest in developing another one in the United States and Mangione wanted to propose a site in San Antonio at Interstate 10 and Loop 1604.

Wentworth was able to get Texas' then-Secretary of State Jack Raines to accompany him and Mangione as a representative of the governor on one of the trips. The Ghermezians decided to do the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis instead.

When Mangione decided to try to develop that same parcel as a minor-league baseball park, Wentworth "arranged, on one day's notice, an appointment for you with the mayor of San Antonio when he wouldn't even return your phone calls." Wentworth accompanied Mangione and a partner to City Hall for a meeting with then-Mayor Wolff, but the ballpark was built on U.S. 90 West.

Mangione wanted to build a "convention center" in Live Oak, and Wentworth arranged a meeting with the city manager and a city councilman. In the letter, he says he did something else as well. "I got state law changed for financing a convention center in Northeast Bexar County outside my legislative district."

That's an intriguing claim. It would be a crime for a legislator to charge for passing a bill.

Wentworth now says it's not true. He had nothing to do with the bill's passage, and even abstained on the vote and had the Legislative Journal record his abstention because a vote "might be considered a conflict of interest."

"The fact of the matter is that I was angry with Mr. Mangione for his complete failure to honor the bargain that we had, and I overstated my role in that. It should have said I showed him how to get the law changed," by telling him to talk to the state representative from that area.

An aggressive overstatement, I'd say. Once again, however, nothing became of this deal. Live Oak got a small "convention center," but not through Mangione.

Mangione had a contract on some land at the Dominion, but couldn't close on it because $300,000 in back taxes were owed on the land. Normally, delinquent taxes must be paid at the time of closing.

Wentworth talked to then-Tax Assessor-Collector Rudy Garza and arranged a meeting with a representative of the law firm of the late Oliver Heard, which had the contract to collect delinquent taxes for the city.

Heard's firm and Garza approved a deal in which Mangione would put up a letter of credit to guarantee payment of the taxes over time so that he could acquire the land. Wentworth said Garza believed it was in the county's interest to approve the deal, because otherwise the land would sit vacant and the county wasn't getting its taxes.

This deal fell through as well. Wentworth says Mangione told him the real estate broker on the deal soured it through an unethical act. Wentworth said he suggested they file an ethics complaint with the state Real Estate Commission or even file a suit, but Mangione asked him not to. He was working on a bigger deal with the same broker and, said Wentworth, promised to pay him if that deal went through.

It was after he heard that the other deal went through that Wentworth sent the dunning letter.

Wentworth said Mangione had promised him early on that when he "hit the big one," he'd pay Wentworth between $100,000 and $300,000, but there was nothing in writing.

Some months after Wentworth sent the letter, Mangione called him to see if he could help put Mangione in touch with a man who appeared to be ready to invest money but had an unlisted number. Wentworth said he did have the number, but would not do it.

He said Mangione acted "hurt" and offered to pay for past services and would sign a note for the debt. How much, he asked, did Wentworth think he owed him? Wentworth said $300,000. Mangione said he thought that was high. He was thinking $200,000. They split the difference, and Mangione signed the note.

It's an impressive amount. I asked Wentworth how much time he put into these four deals. He said he didn't keep his hours. When I said I thought two weeks total sounded generous, he didn't argue. If it was a full two weeks, that would be about $3,125 an hour.

Again, not one deal was successful, and in every case Wentworth's contribution involved bringing public officials or their agents to the table.

Mangione now contends that he was defrauded into signing the note. District Judge Pat Boone didn't buy it and gave Wentworth the judgment, though Mangione has counterclaims that are pending and set for jury trial next week.